Our Journey, His Work: *2013 ROBBINSVILLE SOGGY BOTTOM XC RACE*

I have been behind reporting on the cross country team this year! Practice began at the beginning of August and they have been going strong ever since with several Saturday races and a couple of school races so far. They are having a fun season even in the midst of several injuries on the team thus far including my husband!

Last Wednesday, Robbinsville hosted the school race which my husband coined the "Robbinsville Soggy Bottom" 2013 XC race. Rance worked hard mapping out a new course that would be fun, safe, yet still be 'cross country'! Over halfway through the course, there is a creek crossing which is where the name 'soggy bottom' came from.

The day before the race, Rance, some of the guys, and myself were working together to finish laying carpet across the creek for the race when Rance's injury happened. We needed another piece of carpet to finish covering the creek crossing and were directed to the baseball field. As you can see in the pictures below, this carpet was basically buried in the ground. It took a lot of work digging it up and it was EXTREMELY heavy. Once the guys began dragging it into the trailer to haul back to the school, Rance slipped and fell - hitting the inside of his right leg at the calf muscle and busting it open. Within seconds, his leg literally looked as if a baseball had been glued on the side of it. He punctured blood vessels which caused the HUGE swelling and minutes later he blacked out.

Pulling the carpet out of the ground!

Teamwork!

Dragging into the trailer...
right when the accident happened

Needless to say, this was a HUGE test considering the HOME XC race was the following day and as head coach, Rance is in charge of the race preparations. Thankfully, we were reminded what having a TEAM is all about. Ben spent the entire day at the school the next day helping Rance mark the course and set out cones and prepare for the home race that afternoon. It's incredible because Ben just recently became a DAD (remember Wyatt?!) and his wife, Jess, willingly gave up her husband for the day to assist Rance. WE ARE BEYOND BLESSED by them!

Here are a few pictures of the 2013 Robbinsville Soggy Bottom XC Race: